Browsed byMonth: April 2019

Every sailor at one time or another will need to reef the mainsail. Done right, and assuming your boat is well rigged for reefing, the exercise will result in a more balanced boat in windier conditions.

There are several reefing designs like slab reefing (using a Jiffy Reef type system) and on the more modern boats crewed yacht charters many are coming with in-mast or in-boom mainsails. To reef these types of systems it is simply a matter of cranking in the mainsail inside the mast or boom until the desired amount is left. These are easy and efficient but typically the sail shape is not as good particularly in in-mast systems since batons are not an option.

The majority of cruisers though have the traditional and time tested slab reefing. Below are a few simple points in helping you with a successful reef of your mainsail.